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Toward a Childproof Internet

Parents can childproof their homes by covering the electric sockets, adding parental controls on the cable box and putting a padlock on the liquor cabinet.

Is it possible to do the same for the web?

A handful of entrepreneurs with young children think so, including a company called Kuddle based in Norway. Kuddle is a mobile photo-sharing application aimed at the elementary and middle school set.

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Kuddle is similar to Instagram, except that it requires parental approval to sign up.Credit

Ole Vidar Hestås, one of Kuddle’s founders and its chief executive, said that he got the idea for the service when his youngest son, then 6, asked to sign up for Instagram after observing his older sisters use the service. Mr. Hestås felt his son was too young for Instagram — and while Instagram does not require verification of age to sign up, its terms of service say users must be at least 13 years old to sign up for the service. Mr. Hestås looked around for something that might be age appropriate and was surprised to find that such a service did not seem to exist.

He teamed up with some entrepreneurs, including Christian Vebner, Knut Tarøy and Kathryn Baker, who also works at a private equity firm, to began building the company. It was released for Apple and Android devices in May.

Kuddle is similar to Instagram, except that it requires parental approval to sign up. Parents are also notified when their children post a photo or add a friend. There are also no comments, to avoid mean-spirited remarks or bullying.

Kuddle executives say that the debate about whether children should use social media is quickly being outpaced by their adoption of it. The mobile penetration of children in Norway is so high that keeping them off mobile services is largely a lost cause for parents, even if the children are technically too young.

“They aren’t supposed to use it, if they’re under 13, but they do it anyway,” said Mr. Vebner, who is the chief technology officer of the service. “It’s a timely debate globally.”

The company said that it planned to build out revenue models that do not rely on advertising, or in-app purchases, but from working with hardware makers and SIM card providers who want to build out child-friendly smart products. In addition, the service could partner with young entertainers and celebrities who want to reach their preteen fan bases on social media services.

The company declined to share user figures but said that they are steadily growing, in Norway and beyond, including countries like Saudi Arabia, Japan and the United States. Kuddle is aimed at younger children but executives say it draws parents and family members onto the site as well.

Kuddle has received $1 million in financing and is already raising a second round and says it is fielding requests from companies like Microsoft, who are eager for a version of the service that is compatible with devices running the Windows mobile operating system. The company employs 15 people in Oslo, the capital of Norway, and is hoping to open an office in Palo Alto, Calif., by the end of the year.

The big question, of course, is whether kids will adopt these services — or simply demand the ones that they see their friends or older siblings and cousins using.

But companies like Kuddle say that their goal is to help kids learn how to use social media before they graduate to the big leagues.

Mr. Hestås said he thinks of services like Kuddle as “training wheels for the Internet.”